Stars That Shined
by thatsformetoknow
Summary: At the age of nine, Phil didn't understand how the next door neighbours had suddenly acquired 'adopted' a son, Daniel, his name was. There were a lot of things that Phil didn't really understand; how this boy, age seven could waltz into his life and become his best friend, how they could grow up being each others everything, and dare he say even fall in love.
A little boy with black hair stood with his back to the wall in his hallway, listening intently to his parents talking to the neighbours.

He looked across the hall and at the young age of nine, he could just about see his head in the rather large mirror that hung on the wall opposite him.

He could see his ginger-blonde hair growing at what he remembered as being called 'stems' or 'roots', something to do with plants at any rate.

He had been very pleased when his father had picked up the wrong hair dye at the store, so what had been intended to be wash-out black dye for a Halloween party last year, had in fact been permanent (or as permanent as dye came) black dye so his ginger hair had been a nice shiny black for the past few months. However, as spring approached, the black was fading a little and on the top of his head, ginger was starting to grow.

'We'll be bringing him home next month.' Voices came from the kitchen. He had been supposed to stay at home, where he had been trying to teach their rabbit Holly tricks with little slices of carrots, he had come to ask his parents when they would be back.

But the neighbours' house was much bigger than theirs, and a bit scary; he didn't like it.

And then there were the neighbours... He was a shy boy with people he didn't really know, and he didn't know the neighbours, only that their names were Mr and Mrs Wolf-Howl, or something.

That was cool.

'We're so excited, I can't quite believe it, can you?'

'It's wonderful news, we're very happy for you.' That was his mums voice.

He peered his head around the corner and cautiously stepped in.

'Phil? I thought we told you to stay at home with Martyn.'

'When are you coming back? I'm hungry.' Phil asked meekly, eyeing the neighbours cautiously.

'Hello, Phillip.' The man said,

'Hi.'

'Mr and Mrs Howell have some wonderful news, Phil.' His mum said with a smile. 'They're adopting a little boy, around your age, was it seven?'

Mrs Howell nodded.

'You both can be friends.'

'What's his name?' Phil asked.

'Daniel.' The woman said proudly with a wide smile.

'Where is he?'

'We're going to collect him next month, Phil, I'll introduce you both when he's settled in.'

Phil nodded and muttered a quick good-bye before leaving the neighbours house and going back to their own.

'Phil!' His brother called.

'Yeah?'

'Want some crisps?'

'I want pizza!' Phil replied, finding Martyn in the kitchen, looking in the cupboards.

'We don't have pizza.'

'Well I want some.'

'Crisps is all we have.' He tossed a packet at Phil who opened them nevertheless.

They sat on the sofa and switched the TV on.

'The Howells are getting a seven year old.' Phil said knowledgably,

'How?'

'They bought him, I think, he's called Daniel and he's going to be my best friend.'

'How do you know he'll like you? He might think you're rubbish.'

'He'll think I'm ace.'

Martyn snorted.

'He will!'

'Sure.' He offered with a light laugh.

Phil was sitting in his tree-house, well, it was Martyn's tree-house but he never used it anymore. Phil had sort of adopted it as his own, Martyn didn't think that tree-houses were 'cool' anymore so slowly, it had filled with Phil's belongings.

He looked out the window, and saw the neighbours car pulling into their drive way. Turning back to his comic he continued to read, ignoring all the voices outside.

Phil wasn't sure how long he had been reading for, but he had finished the comic, and he was considerably hungrier than when he had first entered the tree-house.

There was a knock at the door.

No one ever came to Phil's tree-house, if anyone wanted him, they'd shout from the back door.

Nervously, Phil opened the door to reveal a boy slightly younger than him with light brown hair and dark chocolate coloured eyes. Phil liked chocolate.

'Hello?' Phil asked, realising that neither of them had said anything, and they had both been drinking in the others appearance.

'Hi...'

'Can I help you?'

'I'm Dan.'

'Phil.'

Dan didn't reply, just offered a small smile.

'What are you doing in my garden?' Phil asked with a slight frown.

'Your mum sent me through, said you were out here. I'm your new neighbour.'

'New neighbour?' Phil questioned, more to himself than to Dan.

'Dan Howell.' Dan said, clambering in through the door, into the tree-house.

'Oh, you're that boy Daniel.'

'Dan.'

'Right.'

'Well I'm Phil Lester.'

This was him, this was Phil's new best friend. He didn't want to mess this up for himself; he didn't have many friends and certainly not a best one, but a best friend that lived next door? That was ace.

Neither of them said much, not knowing what to say. Phil eventually asked Dan if he liked comics, which he did, and they looked at the comics together, eventually falling into a game of superheroes and villains (of which they switched, and decided that Phil was the best super-villain and Dan was a pretty good hero).

'Phil? Daniel?' Phil's mum called after a few hours.

'Yeah?' Phil asked, opening the glass window and popping his head out, to be greeted by looming darkness.

'It's late, you both have to go to bed.'

Dan and Phil climbed down from the tree-house, continuing their game around the dark garden, in which Dan chased Phil around the grass, claiming that he would stop him no matter what it took, to which Phil laughed evilly and replied that no one could stop him.

After a little more badgering from Phil's mum, they chased each other inside (this time Phil chasing Dan, shouting that he would capture him and put him in the dungeon) and collapsed in giggles, panting, on the sofa in Phil's conservatory.

The weeks flew by into spring and the two were inseparable.

Phil had finally managed to convince his parents that he looked way cooler with black hair than ginger and please-oh-please could he dye it again? F _inally_ they had agreed and taken Phil to the salon to get it professionally dyed this time around, and Phil was insistent on showing off his new shiny black hair to anyone that he met.

Dan had started at Phil's primary school, and while Phil was in year five, Dan was in year three, though that didn't damper their friendship and they were just as close friends in the playground as they were at home.

Dan had been horribly bullied at his last school and it wasn't completely different here; Phil was his only friend really, and most of the children in his year didn't like him.

However, Phil could be very intimidating to the seven year olds in year three and (being almost in year six) threatened to beat up anyone who bullied Dan, though Dan knew that Phil was as gentle as a butterfly.

'Don't you dare go near him!' Phil shouted, straightening his posture so he reached his full height and towered over the younger boy that had been picking on Dan.

The boy ran and Dan laughed. 'They're all so scared of you.'

'I'll have you know I'm very scary.' Phil smirked. 'I could beat you up any day, Howell.'

'Mm-hm.' Dan said with a grin. 'Of course.'

Phil roared like a lion and pounced at Dan, chasing him around the playground as they giggled.

Between lessons, Dan and Phil were stuck together like glue, and after school they walked home together and played either in one of their bedrooms or in Phil's tree-house.

Their parents had been concerned with the amount of time they had been spending together and their lack of other friends, but the worry lapsed into jokes from their fathers about them being best friends forever and then one day them and their wives all living together in the same house. Their mothers had laughed at that, and Phil had frowned.

The weeks turned into months and suddenly it was as if Dan had always been there, as if they'd always been friends, like Phil couldn't remember much before Dan. Not that he'd want to.

Spring turned into summer and Phil and his family went on holiday, leaving Dan for a lonely summer with out his best friend. Phil had a nice time, but Martyn didn't like to play with Phil the way Dan did, being thirteen, he was too 'cool' for that.

Phil did learn to swim properly, however which was a bonus, but he wasn't even allowed to talk on the phone with Dan because of the costs from abroad.

They came back home soon enough however, beginning of July, and Dan had reported on Holly's behaviour (all good) and informed Phil that Dan's birthday had been while they had been away.

Phil was devastated, but Dan had insisted that it was fine and he didn't mind.

Phil brought a little cactus out of his bedroom and handed it to Dan.

'Happy birthday, this is Spiky, take good care of him?'

Dan promised that he would and gave Phil a hug.

'You're eight now!' Phil excitedly said, that revelation having only just hit him.

'Yep!'

Over the rest of the summer, they neglected to mention the fact that Phil would be in year six; the last year of primary school before he would be heading off to secondary school and leaving Dan behind.

Soon enough, Phil was in year nine and Dan had just gone into year seven; just joined Phil's school.

Phil's friends didn't understand why he hung around with a little year seven, and they weren't discreet with their distaste.

Phil was fourteen now, and just in time for Valentines day he had gotten himself a girlfriend.

Dan had felt a little neglected, not being able to spend as much time with Phil as before, but Phil didn't seem bothered.

Dan was.

Hanging around with Phil at school all the time, he hadn't bothered to make friends in his own year and he didn't like to be awkwardly third-wheeling when Phil and Sophie were sucking each others faces off.

So Dan spent the days in his own bedroom, trying to do homework that he'd inevitably forgotten to do in his procrastination and the rest of the time he spent laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling until his room darkened with the evening, questioning the universe and his existence.

And questioning why Phil liked Sophie more than he liked Dan, though he'd never admit that, not even to himself.

A day in early April, there was a knock at his door, he opened it to see a red-eyed Phil, with a trembling bottom lip.

Dan ushered him in, and they laid down on the bed, Dan's arms around Phil as he listed off the good things about his and Sophie's relationship and all the good times they had, unable to understand why she had suddenly ended it.

'She doesn't deserve you.' Dan whispered, long after Phil's small sobs had subsided and they laid in the dark silence, Phil in Dan's arms (though Dan was considerably smaller than Phil.)

About an hour ago, someone had entered Dan's room and then said that Phil could stay over if he wanted to.

'But why, Dan? Why doesn't she want me anymore?'

'I have absolutely no idea, Phil, any one would be lucky to have you. But Phil, in the whole universe and seven billion people on this planet, she's one girl. Don't give her the power to make you feel this way.'

'Maybe she was the only one who mattered?'

'She doesn't. One day she's going to find love again, but he won't be half as great as you. One day you're going to find love again and they're going to be twice as good as her.'

'You're right. You're the only one who matters to me, Dan, you're my most bestest friend in the whole world.'

'I'm not sure bestest is a word but thanks, you're mine too.'

And Phil was right. A few years had come and gone around and they were the only ones who mattered, Phil barely remembered Sophie anymore and Dan and Phi were still the best of friends.

Though Dan had been distant lately, spending days cooped up in his (rather large) bedroom, instead of round with Phil.

'Dan?' Phil asked, jolting Dan out of his daydream about something or another that he couldn't for the life of him remember.

'Yeah?'

'Why are you never around lately?' Phil asked, bumping his shoulder into Dan's softly as he joined Dan sitting on the end of his bed.

'I'm just busy I guess. You know, GCSE's and all.'

'I could help you study, I did them too, you know.'

'I study better alone anyway.'

'Dan?'

'Hm?'

'I always made time for you when I was doing my exams, have I done something wrong?'

'No.'

'Are you sure?'

Dan didn't say anything.

'So I have.'

'No. It's just, you're going off to college and then uni and then you'll move out.'

'Oh Dan, that won't change anything.'

'Won't it?' Dan said disbelievingly.

'No. I love you and I'll never leave you.'

Dan didn't reply. He knew that Phil was straight but over this past year he was beginning to question himself when it came to whether _he_ was straight or not.

Another matter that had been playing on his mind was Phil. And how he felt about him.. Distancing himself had only proved one thing – he couldn't bare to be away from him.

They hugged as Phil left, to let Dan get back to studying, though Dan knew that he wouldn't get any done.

They lingered in each other's arms more than perhaps they should have, and Dan closed his eyes, inhaling Phil's scent. He waved Phil off, and could only say that Phil's arms felt like home.

That was terribly cliché of him, Dan realised with a shake of his head and groaned, falling back on to the bed.

'Don't go.' Dan said, looking over at Phil as he drove.

The two of them were sitting in the backseats of Phil's truck, it was two in the morning and they were parked at the edge of some woods, overlooking the city, but Dan thought that the stars shined brighter than the lights of the town.

'Dan, I have to.'

'I know. Don't forget about me.'

'I could never.'

Dan sighed and settled himself against Phil's side, and Phil wrapped his arms around the younger boy.

'Promise?'

Phil pressed a soft kiss to Dan's head. 'I promise.'

Dan wasn't sure quite when the little kisses on foreheads and cheeks had started but he didn't want them to stop.

'Once you're done with your exams and you come to college, do you want to live together?' Phil questioned.

'Yes.' Dan replied.

Only now, faced with the prospect of Phil leaving did he realise that he had fallen head over heels for the boy in whose arms he rested.

He knew that he loved Phil, yes, but he was _in love._

Oh, he was so in love with Phil.

Phil pointed to the sky and pointed out shapes in the stars, and Dan didn't think that they were actual constellations for he couldn't see what Phil could in the bright lights of the sky, however he nodded along.

Dan sat up and twisted in Phil's arms, turning to face him.

He thought for a moment, what to say, to confess his undying love for the other boy but no words came.

He pressed his lips to Phil's softly and quickly pulled away, ready to whisper his apologies.

But none came. How could he be sorry for loving the beautiful boy in front of him?

He pressed their lips together once more and Phil pulled Dan into his lap properly and Dan's legs wrapped around Phil's waist.

Their lips parted and their foreheads rested together gently, and their arms wrapped around the other as Dan rested his head in the crook of Phil's neck.

'I love you, Phil.' He whispered.

'I love you, Dan.' Phil replied, rubbing circles on Dan's back with his thumbs.

'Don't go.'

'I won't.'

'What?' Dan said, shocked, leaning up from Phil's embrace and looking at his serious face.

'I'll go to Manchester instead, I don't have to go so far away.'

'Please don't leave me.'

'I could never leave you, Dan.' Phil said, shyly kissing him again.

The first few months of Phil's college life had gone smoothly, he came down to visit Dan most week days after school, to which they were both thankful that Phil had last minute applied to a college closer, here in Manchester, rather than where he had been planning on going due to his and Dan's new found relationship. Phil had been able to board at his college, having his own room so when Dan wasn't being forced to study, and Phil being forced to decline his calls to stop distracting him, sometimes Dan would go and stay with Phil for the weekend.

Their parents didn't suspect anything, considering how close they'd been for years, unknowing that they spent the mornings of weekends curled up in bed together and then cooking pancakes with sneaky kisses and hugs from behind.

Dan was just sixteen and close to finishing his exams, and once Dan went to college, Phil would be off to University, but thankfully, since Dan could board at his college, he would be able to move in with Phil in an apartment that they were both currently saving up to afford that would ideally be in the middle of both University and College but also not too far from home.

'Phil?' Dan asked sleepily, kissing Phil's cheek softly as he turned over to face the other boy in bed.

'Hm?' Phil yawned, and smiled, lazily bringing their lips together.

'When are we going to tell our parents about us?'

'Whenever you want to, love.' Phil replied, wrapping his arms tighter around Dan's waist and nestling his head into the back of Dan's neck, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder.

'I think I want to... But what will they say? They've always been so sure that we're straight.'

'It doesn't matter what they say, Dan.'

'But what if they hate it? Hate us?'

'They could never hate us, they love us.'

'What if my parents regret adopting me?'

'They won't. I promise you that, Dan, you've made them so happy.'

'All I ever do is spend time at your house.' Dan said with a soft laugh.

Phil laughed too. 'True, but you have. They could never have children and you have been everything they ever wanted.'

'But why didn't they adopt a baby? I was seven, I'd practically given up hope of ever being adopted...'

Phil thought for a moment. 'I've overheard many conversations between our parents and they told mine that they were going to adopt a baby, they went to see the children with the intent of adopting a baby.'

Phil's hand slowly stroked down Dan's side comfortably as he continued. 'They told my parents that they were going to get a baby, that is, until they met you. And they fell in love with you then and there, the moment they laid eyes on your beautiful face, the moment they met you, just like I did.'

Dan turned in Phil's arms and pressed a kiss to the side of his jaw.

'They will always love you, Dan.'

Dan gave a content sigh and nestled down into Phil's embrace.

'Can I tell you a story, Dan?' Phil asked softly, turning his head to look at the other boy from their position laying in the grass staring up at the star-filled sky.

Dan nodded.

'I was nine, and my parents were round at your house. I remember thinking that your house was very... daunting. I stood outside the kitchen door working up the courage to go in and ask my mum for some lunch, and I heard them talking, talking about you. I went in, and they told me that they were bringing home a little boy called Daniel and he was seven. I went back home and for the next month I was convinced that we were going to be best friends. I told Martyn and he laughed at me, said you'd think I was lame, but I said you'd think I was ace.'

' _That_ was pretty lame, Phil.' Dan laughed, his gaze on Phil as he stared up at the sky.

'Ace. Yes, you were going to think that I was ace.' He laughed. 'And then I was in my tree-house just reading and there was a knock. I don't know how I still remember this but I do, clear as day, and no one ever knocked on my tree-house. So I opened the door and there was a beautiful little boy, and I thought how your eyes were a perfect chocolate colour. And that was that, best friends for the rest of time, you and me, Dan and Phil.'

Phil kept his gaze on the sky, and Dan kept his on Phil. He pressed a kiss to Phil's cheek and wrapped an arm around Phil's chest.

'Our dads used to say how we'd always be together, how we'd get wives and all live in a big house together and I never liked that idea. I wanted to be with you forever but not like that. It wasn't until my first girlfriend, Sophie. We didn't speak much, and I pushed you away, but when I came crying to you, you were there for me, you held me in your arms as I cried and you held me all night.'

Phil turned his head to look at Dan, love in his eyes as he kissed Dan's nose.

'It was then that I knew. You were the only thing that mattered, the only thing that will ever matter to me, when I looked at that beautiful boy beside me, who lovingly wrapped me in his arms when I needed him, I knew. I loved you. I had fallen in love with you all those years ago when you were seven and I was nine and now I finally realised the nature of that love, that I wanted to hold you and kiss you and have you as mine, forever and ever.'

'And you will.'

'I still remember when I kissed you for the first time, we were just sitting, out in the field, you know how it gets filled with daisies and dandelion puffs when its summer? How the sunsets cast a warm glow over everything? You looked so gorgeous that day, Dan, so beautiful. And you were just leaning against me, just as always, and I pressed a kiss to the top of your head, and you tensed up, I can still feel it.' He laughed softly. 'But you said nothing, and neither did I. We didn't talk about it but slowly, little kisses on foreheads and cheeks and the like were integrated into our daily life and honestly it was only a matter of time, then.'

Phil reached a hand into his pocket quietly.

'And then when you kissed me. Oh, when you kissed me, Dan, that was that, I was so gone I knew I could never love another the way I love you. It was then that I believed in soul mates, that I believed it was fated that your parents adopted you instead of a baby, that you and I were destined to be, Dan, I truly believe that.'

He sat up, and helped Dan up, and their lips met in a soft kiss.

'Dan...?' Phil said softly, looking down.

'Yes, Phil?' Dan asked, a soft smile on his face.

'Marry me.' Phil said with a smile, a silver band of a ring in the palm of his hand. 'Marry me, Dan.'

Dan laughed, nodded and kissed him. 'I love you. I love you. I love you.'

'I know. I love you too.'

Phil slid the ring onto Dan's finger and kissed his hand.

'We're going to be married. We're going to be together forever.' Phil said, laying back on the grass and pulling Dan into his arms.

'We were always going to be together forever.'

A few tears had rolled down Dan's face (as well as Phil's) when they had said their vows. It had just been them, not paying the blindest bit of attention to anyone else in the room even though their whole town had come, only faintly aware of their mothers crying quietly into each other.

Dan's father had had to end his speech a little early because he was tearing up, and Phil's father managed to crack a few jokes to lighten the emotional atmosphere.

Dan and Phil looked at each other as the next person stood up to make their speech, their hands entwined under the table.

Speeches went on a little, and dancing happened, their first dance as a married couple; they danced close, their foreheads resting against the other's as they danced together, the others slowly joining in.

They had cut the cake, laughing as they each bit off the others head of the edible grooms they had bought to top the cake, and they had posed for wedding photo's, had congratulations from most people in their town.

They had spent the whole day in a state of elation, a euphoria surrounding them as they went through the day, the ceremony and the reception.

Dan turned over in their bed, looking at Phil's peaceful face, glancing at the clock it was past three am, but Dan was still awake.

This was _their_ bed. They had decided to spend their first night married in the apartment that they had been saving up for, finally having bought and furnished it, they spent the first night in it together.

Dan knew that they had to get up early the following morning to make it to the airport for their honeymoon, but he would rather spend the night watching Phil's beautiful face than sleep.

He pressed a soft kiss to Phil's forehead. 'I love you, Phil.' He whispered.

Phil's arm tightened around Dan's waist. 'I love you, Dan.' Phil's sleepy voice replied, pressing a soft kiss to Dan's cheek.

'...Grandma always used to tell us how when they were little, Dad used to look at Daddy like he put stars in the sky. He did, he still did up until the day Daddy died. My Daddy was the best father I could have ever asked for and we are all going to miss him more than anything, really.' Dan and Phil's daughter finished shakily, and went to help Dan up to the front.

'I'll be eighty-seven and Phil would have been eighty-nine. Eighty years ago we met, when we were just boys and it was eighty years ago that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I'm just glad he got to spend the rest of his with me.' Dan didn't say much else, having been forced to attend the funeral by their children; Dan hardly wanted to talk about Phil to strangers and receive sad, consoling looks when all he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die.

Eighty years.

Eighty years they'd been in each other's lives; Dan didn't remember anything much before Phil and why would he want to? Now Phil was gone and what did he have?

Children that were all grown up with their own lives and a house full of memories.

Even his pillow still smelled faintly of Phil, that shouldn't have been allowed, really, when Phil was dead and gone, but Dan could still inhale his scent every time he went to sleep.

That night as Dan curled in bed, tear stains streaked down his cheeks, he pulled Phil's pillow closer to his body, because that was all he had left, really.

* * *

 **A/N: This was the point my sister looked at me, tears rolling down her face.**

 **I am so sorry.**

 **This last scene was actually added in after.**

 **Inspired** **by Mary's Song (Oh My My My) by Taylor Swift**

 **Comments are greatly appreciated.**

 **(#spon go check out TheSilenceOfMyMusic)**

 **(For no other reason than they are my bffl haha)**


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